The Solomon Islands Kurukuru national futsal team is currently back in full swing with their training ahead of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal tournament in Fiji, July 5-11 this year.

Kurukuru Coach Victor Wa’ii said training is progressing well and they will be ready in time for the OFC tournament.

The Kurukuru have defied all odds last year to earn the right to represent Oceania in the Futsal World Cup after impressive performance in the Oceania qualifiers in Fiji.

Despite the youngest team, the Kurukuru stunned their regional opponents with the display of speed and skill, which they hope to repeat this year.

The current Kurukuru training squad comprised of old players who have played in the World Cup plus some new drafted players.

The OFC Futsal tournament at the Vodafone Arena in Fiji will feature Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Tahiti.

But the host country is reported to be facing problems in getting their players to show interest.

The Fiji Times reported that the five-a-side soccer coach Imtiaz Khan has urged players to make an effort to start attending training for national selection.

However, Khan has been facing problems in getting players to show interest.

“It is a plea to all potential players to attend training. It is not encouraging to see the numbers not turning up.

“It was hard to dissect the reason for the non interest.

“There have been only a few players who have been showing up at training and he was racing against time,” Khan told the Fiji Times.

Source : Solomon Star
By : Philip Lilomo
Published : 29/4/2009

Fiji five-a-side soccer coach Imtiaz Khan has urged players to make an effort to start attending training for national selection.

Fiji is preparing to host the Oceania Football Confederation FUTSAL tournament at the Vodafone Arena ion July 5-11.

Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Tahiti are set to take part.

However, Khan has been facing problems in getting players to show interest.

“It is a plea to all potential players to attend training,” Khan said.

“It is not encouraging to see the numbers not turning up.”

He said it was hard to dissect the reason for the non interest.

There have been only a few players who have been showing up at training and Khan said he was racing against time.

“We only have two months and there is the Fiji FACT, which is coming up,” he said.

Source : Fiji Times Online
Published : 28/4/2009

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) Futsal Development Officer Victor Wa’ii started futsal coaching clinic for primary schools in Honiara yesterday.

Wa’ii, who recently conducted futsal development clinics in the Provinces, said he’s targeting six primary schools in the capital.

“The coaching clinic will be conducted in six Honiara Town Council schools in Honiara.

“This will be followed by an under-14 competition for primary school,” he said.

The Kurukuru National Futsal team coach started the coaching clinic with Mbokona Primary School yesterday.

Wa’ii, who led the Kurukuru to their first futsal World Cup in Brazil last year, is keen to see the indoor five-aside code of soccer introduced and developed in all parts of the country.

Source : Solomon Star News
By : Philip Lilomo
Published : 28/4/209

Two young futsal players flew to Australia last Thursday to train at the Dural Sport and Leisure Centre (DSLC).

Both talented players Kirwin Daru and Brendon Siluvu were the second group to be awarded the long-term futsal exchange programme.

Kurukuru stars Elliot Ragomo and Jack Whitney were the first to participate in the programme.

During their three years in Australian, Daru and Siluvu will participate in Futsal competitions at the Dural Sport & Leisure Centre and at the same time do their studies at the William Clarke College, an Anglican school based in Kellyville.

Siluvu was in the National Under-14 Squad that competed in the Australian National Futsal Championship recently. They reached the semi finals.

The young futsal players were selected by their coaches and peers to participate in the inaugural year-long programme.

As part of the programme, Ragomo and Whitney had participated in local Futsal competition at the centre, as well as DSLC’s representative Futsal team in the Football New South Wales Futsal Premier League competition.

Dural Sport and Leisure Centre Futsal coach said of Ragomo and Whitney: “The boys will brought an exciting brand of skilful Futsal to our teams, and that will present a challenge to our regular representative players to raise their own abilities.

“We hope that the regular training will provide the Solomon boys with the opportunity to learn about the discipline required to succeed in Futsal at the highest level”, he said.

Both Jack and Elliot also had the opportunity to participate in the Dural Warriors inaugural trip for elite players to Spain in June/July 2006.

During their term in Australia, Ragomo and Whitney also studied at William Clarke College.

The two boys participated in school life as regular, everyday students, enrolling in Year 8 on their arrival.

The $15,000 cost of the programme was supported by Michelago Limited (an Australian company with interests in the Solomon Islands), Westpac (Solomon Islands), the Solomon Islands Association of NSW.

Source : Solomon Star News
By : Philip Lilomo
Published : 28/4/2009

Honiara Futsal Coach Peter Sada says he wants to see his boys included in the National Futsal Squad.

In an interview with Star Sports yesterday afternoon, the Futsal School of Excellence coach said his students have the talents and potential to be in the national team.

“Seeing more potential futsal players enrolling in this school of excellence is encouraging,” he said.

So far, Sada said he is very pleased because two of his students have been selected to join the Kurukuru national team.

“And I would like to see more of my students selected into the national squad in the future.”

Sada said his boys train every Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays after school.

He pointed out one of the challenges facing their trainings was lack of additional support from an assistant coach.

“Currently, we do not have a full time assistant coach and it’s quite challenging having to train the increasing number of interested players at this tight schedule,” he said.

Sada hopes an assistance coach is identified and selected to assist him with coaching.

Futsal falls in three categories – Under-11/12, Under-14 and Under-16.

“Considering my students’ performances, I have a strong feeling they will one day make it to the national side and represent the country internationally,” he said.

Currently, the main focus of training was to select a squad that will represent the country in the Australian championship, which was usually hosted in Sydney.

“It is an annual event. Therefore, I hoped most of my boys will be selected and make it to the final squad for next year’s competition,” he said.

Source : Solomon Star
By : Gina Maka’a
Published : 23/4/2009

The first ever women’s FUTSAL five-a-side tournament organized by Fiji Football in the northern division over the weekend proved to be a success with a total of 14 teams participating in two grades.

The Sun and Sharma’s sponsored one day event at St Mary’s Primary School ground saw a colorful opening parade and competition at its best between the women teams coming from as far as Nadogo.

Wailevu won the Open grade title with Nadogo finishing as the runners up while All Saints Secondary scooped the secondary schools crown after beating Labasa Muslim College in the final.

Fiji FUTSAL official Hari Raj Naicker who coordinated the event said he was amazed with the enthusiasm and commitment of the female players in the northern division.

“The one day tournament was a success as the women players displayed outstanding football.”

“The young women have showed that football is not only popular amongst men in the division but women also and I am awed by the level of commitment of the players there.”

“FUTSAL is a new sport for the division yet the teams adapted to the rules quickly and played well.”

“We will be organizing more tournaments in the north in future and are working at organizing a national level inter district FUTSAL competition for women to coincide with our men’s inter district competition” he added.

The winners in both the categories walked away with $150 while the runners up got $50 for their efforts.

Source : FijiLive
Published : 21/4/2009

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and FIFA Technical staff have come together in Auckland this week to discuss long terms strategic plans for football, futsal and beach soccer.

OFC Technical Director Jim Selby, FIFA Assistant Development Officer Patrick Jacquemet, Referee Development Officer Massimo Raveino, Referee Instructor Neil Poloso and FIFA Futsal Instructor Scott Gilligan are all working towards developing the OFC Technical Department Strategic Development Plan for 2009 – 2012.

Selby says the workshops have been invaluable in terms of brainstorming new ideas.

“As a result of these discussions, we’ve been able to modify existing technical activities so that we ensure the best possible outcomes for OFC and each Member Association (MA),” says Selby.

“It’s about identifying issues that may hinder development in our respective areas and then collectively finding solutions.”

Workshop topics have included the structure, content, delivery and assessment criteria for OFC Coach and Referee Accreditation Courses.

Selby says the group has also discussed development pathways and methods of mentoring MA Course Instructors, players, coaches and referees.

Scott Gilligan, who joined OFC late last year as the Win in Oceania Futsal Project Manager, says the workshop has helped to build unity within the group.

“We are all working in different areas but the principles in terms of development are the same,” says the former Australian Futsal Coach.

“I know that my strategies for futsal are in line with the overall strategies of the OFC Technical Department and that gives me confidence in what I’m doing.

“We have established effective communication so that we can assist each other in achieving our individual goals.”

Selby says he is excited about developing the new strategic plan and believes it will ensure the continued development of football, futsal, beach soccer within Oceania. – OFC

Source : Solomon Star
Published : 17/4/2009

KUALA LUMPUR: The draw for the inaugural edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship will be held in Isfahan on April 30.

Representative teams from hosts and Asian futsal champions Iran and runners-up Thailand have been given the top billing for the 10-team event, which will be held in Isfahan from July 4 to 12.

With AFC Futsal Player of the Year Vahid Shamsaee in their ranks, Sepahan-based Foolad Mahan club will aim to stamp their authority in the continent while Thailand will be represented by Port Authority.

The teams will be divided into two groups of five and will play each other in round robin format with top two teams from each group qualifying for the semi-finals.

Apart from Iran and Thailand, teams from Australia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Qatar, Lebanon and Iraq will vie for the top honours in the competition.

LIST OF TEAMS

Iran – Foolad Mahan
Australia – New South Wales Thunder
Japan – Nagoya Oceans
Kyrgyzstan – AUB Altyn-Tash Bishkek
Uzbekistan – Stroitel-Zarafshan
China – Wuhan Dilong
Thailand – Port Authority
Qatar – Al Sadd
Lebanon – TBA
Iraq – Nawrouz

Source : the-AFC.com
Published : 16/4/2009

China will be hosting an international futsal tournament in June that could eventually become one of the major pillars of a continent-wide five-a-side circuit.

The International Indoor Futsal Tournament in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, from June 19-21 will also feature Asian powerhouses Iran and Japan, as well as the Netherlands.

AFC has already sanctioned the event, which is aiming to become a regular feature on the Asian futsal calendar, along with countries such as Iran, Malaysia and Thailand who host international annual tournaments.

The format of the competition is round-robin with the winners taking home US$6,000 while the runners-up earn $4,000. The third-placed team receive $3,000 while even the bottom side are not left out with £2,000.

Futsal is growing in popularity in Asia and there is hope that an annual circuit along the lines of professional tennis could thrive in the continent.

Source : the-afc.com
Published : 14/4/2009

[Editors Note : Whilst this isn't directly related to Aus/NZ/PI, its still interesting. We don't know how they think they were ever going to get away with it by scoring so many own goals...]

A junior high school soccer coach has been given a year-long suspension by the Japan Football Association (JFA), after ordering his team to throw a futsal match in January.

The team was playing a qualifier match for the Niigata Prefecture Selection Junior High School Futsal Tournament on Jan. 12, to decide the order of the top two qualifying teams. However, after realizing that the winner would have a high chance of playing a rival school, the coach — also the school’s vice principal — told his team to lose heavily; which they did, scoring six own goals in a 0-7 loss.

“I didn’t think of my role as an educator,” said the 47-year-old. “I know I made a mistake.”

Source : The Mainichi Daily News
Published : 10/4/2009